The present disclosure relates generally to data communications over cable. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to identifying the port connected to the far end of a cable using a device connected to the near end of the cable.
In a typical office, devices such as personal computers, printers, and the like are connected to a corporate network by cables such as Ethernet cables. Each cable is generally connected to one or more switches, which are located away from the devices, for example in a separate room. Each switch has many ports, each connected to one of the cables. In such a system, one problem commonly encountered by a network administrator is how to visually identify the switch port to which a particular device is connected.
Some network configuration utilities include a function to identify the local network card using a flashing LED. However, this function only helps to identify a specific network port of a local device with several network cards installed. The function is unable to identify a port connected to the far end of a cable connected to the local device.